Land rush! US oil drillers pack into the Permian Basin, but only the strong will survive

Written by Tom DiChristopher at CNBC

There’s a land rush on in the Lone Star State.

Oil exploration and production companies have piled into the Permian — a rich formation beneath Texas and New Mexico — because they can produce crude there more cheaply than in many other U.S. basins. Those low break-even costs for drillers are top of mind, with U.S. crude oil trading near $50 a barrel, about half the price it fetched at the peak of 2014.